The present invention relates to a method and an apparatus for impact crushing printed circuit boards of electric household instruments and OA equipment, which include television receivers, personal computers, air-conditioners, washing machines, refrigerators, and electronic ovens, into pieces of a few to ten centimeters square and separating (removing) from the pieces of the printed circuit boards electric components which are deformed but substantially kept in their shapes. Also, the present invention relates to a method and an apparatus for impact crushing the separated components or defective electric components claimed during the production into pieces and recovering by groups valuables such as copper, steel, and aluminum from the crushed pieces. Furthermore, the present invention relates to a method and an apparatus for impact crushing into pieces small electronic instruments, which include a video recorder/player, a small set of audio components, a radio/cassette, a vacuum cleaner, a hair dryer, and a hand-held telephone, and recovering valuables, either components or materials, from the pieces. Moreover, the present invention relates to a method of disassembling electronic components, which include tuners, radiator-provided devices, transformers, flyback transformers, and deflection yokes, into at least two groups of pieces (materials). For example, a method is provided for impact crushing the deflection yokes removed from a cathode ray tube and separating them into at least winding coils and crushed resin substrate pieces which are then recovered.
One of such methods of recovering valuables from electronic instruments such as television receivers is disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication (Heisei)5-147040, in which wastes including metals, plastics, and foamed resins are crushed and subjected to wind separation, metal separation, and plastic separation for recovering the valuables in desired groups (of materials). Also, disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication (Heisei)10-15519 is a method of burning shreds of waste at lower temperatures to remove unwanted ingredients as exhaust gas and recovering not-burnt valuables from the remaining waste left at the bottom of a furnace. A method of recycling printed circuit boards is disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication (Heisei)10-314711. This dry distillation method is designed for, after removing electronic components (including resistors, capacitors, coils, ICs, radiators, and flyback transformers), sheathed wires (cables) connecting between the electronic components, and solder adhering the components and wires to each printed circuit board, heating the printed circuit board to a range from 300xc2x0 C. to 450xc2x0 C. to carbonize resins of the printed circuit board and then recovering the resins, copper foils, and glass fibers in desired groups. Alternatively, a method is provided for grinding off solder from printed circuit boards on which a variety of electronic components are mounted, dismounting the electronic components, and recovering them in particular groups. Disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication (Heisei)10-64431 is a method of recycling deflection yokes installed in a cathode ray tube of a television receiver. According to the method, a means is employed for disassembling the deflection yoke to separately recover its components.
However, the method disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication (Heisei)5-147040 requires cooling the waste with liquid nitrogen or the like during the impact crushing. As the pieces of a particular size produced by crushing the waste are separated into respective materials, the overall system will be bulky thus increasing the cost of its facilities and recycling operation. The method disclosed in Publication (Heisei)10-15519 is implemented with a combustion furnace and a system for making the exhaust gas harmless and will hence increase the cost of the facility and recycling operation. The dry distillation method for printed circuit boards also has such a problem. The method of grinding off the solder from printed circuit boards before dismounting the components takes a considerable length of time while requiring a series of maintenance actions for replacing worn-out or clogged grinding stones. The method of disassembling the deflection yoke to recover its components in different material groups requires a hardly amount of time for its accomplishment.
The present invention is directed towards crushing at a first step a printed circuit board on which various components are mounted within a short period of time to separate and recover the components and relevant wires which are deformed more or less but maintained in substantially their original shapes. It is also directed towards crushing at a second step some of the components, including tuners, radiator sheets for ICs, and transformers, separated at the first step to separate in desired groups (of materials) and recover valuables. The present invention is further directed towards crushing an electronic instrument such as a video recorder/player, a radio cassette recorder/player, a set of small audio devices, a cleaner, a hair dryer, or a hand-held telephone, at a first step to disassemble into at least two different components. It is also directed towards crushing at a second step the components of the electronic instrument separated at the first step to separate and recover valuables in different material groups. It is further directed towards crushing a resin body e.g. of a deflection yoke in a short period of time to separate the body from deflection coils. A crushing apparatus according to the present invention employs no blades but drives rotor extensions and upright studs for impact crushing, hence eliminating such extra maintenance jobs for grinding or replacing the blades.
For solving the foregoing problems, the crushing apparatus of the present invention comprises a rotor having a truncated substantially conical projected center mounted perpendicularly at the center of rotation thereof and protrudent members (e.g. round bars)mounted perpendicularly on extensions thereof extending radially from the center of rotation, a rotor rotating means for rotating the rotor, a bottom-closed case in which the rotor is installed at the bottom. In particular, a plurality of protrudent members (e.g. round bars) extending horizontally are mounted on the inner side of the bottom-closed case. The rotor is rotated at a speed of a few hundreds to two thousand revolutions per minute. The crushing apparatus of the present invention is based on the impact crushing effect (a plastic fracture) caused by collision energy between the rotor and the object to be crushed and collision energy between the object to be crushed and the bottom-closed case wall and between the object to be crushed and the protrudent members, which is different from the shearing effect (a shear cutting) with the use of blades or knives. The crushing apparatus of the present invention may be arranged with the rotor axis and the bottom-closed case tilting at a desired angle to the vertical.
According to the present invention, a method of crushing a printed circuit board is provided comprising the steps of loading a first printed circuit board into the bottom-closed case of the crushing apparatus and rotating the rotor on which the studs (bars) are mounted to crush the first printed circuit boards into pieces of a size ranging from a few to ten centimeters square and separate various components, wires, and second printed circuit boards from the first printed circuit boards.
According to the present invention, a method of disassembling a deflection yoke is provided comprising the steps of loading a deflection yoke into the bottom-closed base of the crushing apparatus and rotating the rotor to separate the deflection yoke into deflection coils (winding coils) and crushed pieces of a resin base.
According to the present invention, a method of disassembling a tuner is provided comprising the steps of loading a tuner equipped with a shielding case and a printed circuit board for controlling into the bottom-closed case of the crushing apparatus and rotating the rotor to separate the tuner into the shielding case and the crushed printed circuit board.
According to the present invention, a method of disassembling an electronic component is provided comprising the steps of loading an electronic component equipped with a radiator sheet into the bottom-closed case of the crushing apparatus and rotating the rotor to separate the radiator sheet from the electronic component.
According to the present invention, a method of disassembling a transformer is provided comprising the steps of loading a transformer into the bottom-closed case of the crushing apparatus and rotating the rotor to separate the transformer into a winding core and copper windings.
According to the present invention, a method of recovering valuables from an electronic instrument is provided comprising the steps of impact crushing an electronic instrument itself or its chassis with a printed circuit board dismounted from the electronic instrument into pieces of a desired size to separate from the electronic instrument or the printed circuit board various components which are deformed more or less but maintained in substantially their original shapes.
According to the present invention, a method of recovering valuables in groups of materials from an electronic instrument or a printed circuit board is provided comprising a vibration screening step of screening the crushed pieces or components in groups of different size, a magnetic screening step of separating ferrous materials from the crushed pieces or components received from the vibration screening step, and an eddy current screening step of separating copper and aluminum materials from the crushed pieces or components received from the magnetic screening step.
The method may further comprise a second crushing step of crushing the components dismounted from the printed circuit board into pieces of a smaller size, a second magnetic screening step of separating magnetic materials from the crushed pieces received from the second crushing step, and a second eddy current screening step of separating copper and aluminum materials from the crushed pieces received from the second magnetic screening step.
As a result, the present invention allows the crushing apparatus to be simple in construction and low in production cost. Also, the various components can be dismounted from the electronic instrument or printed circuit board as quickly as 10 to 60 seconds while deformed more or less but maintained in substantially their original shapes (not exploded). The object such as a deflection yoke, a tuner, a transformer, or a house-hold electronic instrument can readily be separated into at least two different components (for example, winding coils and crushed resin body pieces of the deflection yoke). Since each of the first and second crushing steps are followed by the vibration screening step, the magnetic screening step, the eddy current screening step, and the resin separating step, valuables including metals and resins can favorably be separated and recovered. Also, the crushing apparatus of the present invention includes no blades, eliminating an extra maintenance job for grinding or replacing the blades. Accordingly, the recovery and recycling rate of the valuables will be improved and the recycling cost will be declined.
As a first embodiment of the present invention, a crushing apparatus comprises a rotor including a truncated substantially conical center provided at the center of rotation thereof, a plurality of extensions each having at least one substantially vertical stud thereon extending radially from the center of rotation, a rotor rotation driving means for rotating the rotor, and a bottom-closed case in which the rotor is mounted at the bottom, wherein the bottom-closed case has a plurality of horizontal studs mounted on its inner side. As the crushing apparatus is simple in the construction, its production cost will be decreased. Also, it allows the object to be crushed as quickly as 10 to 60 seconds and the recycling cost to be reduced.
As a second embodiment of the present invention, the crushing apparatus of the first embodiment may further comprise an air discharging means for discharging air from the bottom-closed case. As dusts produced during the action of crushing a printed circuit board and dirt accumulated on the printed circuit board are discharged to the outside, the working condition can be maintained clean.
As a third embodiment of the present invention, the crushing apparatus of the first embodiment may have an opening at least in either the bottom or the side of the bottom-closed case. The opening permits the crushed pieces or components to be removed out from the bottom-closed case at higher efficiency and in a shorter period.
As a fourth embodiment of the present invention, a method of crushing a printed circuit board comprises the steps of loading a first printed circuit board into the bottom-closed case of the crushing apparatus of the first embodiment and rotating the rotor to crush the first printed circuit board into pieces of a desired size and separate electronic components, radiator sheets, wires, second printed circuit boards, and others from the first printed circuit board. The method carries out crushing the printed circuit board and separation of the components in a shorter period of time. The volume of the printed circuit board can hence be easily decreased (volumetric reduction), facilitating the handling and the transfer between the steps.
As a fifth embodiment of the present invention, a method of disassembling a deflection yoke comprises the steps of loading a deflection yoke into the bottom-closed case of the crushing apparatus of the first embodiment and rotating the rotor to separate winding coils from crushed pieces of a resin base of the deflection yoke. Accordingly, the number of steps for disassembling and the recycling cost can be reduced.
As a sixth embodiment of the present invention, a method of disassembling an electronic component or a household electrical instrument comprises the steps of loading an electronic component or a household electrical instrument into the bottom-closed case of the crushing apparatus of the first embodiment and rotating the rotor to separate crushed pieces of a housing and a printed circuit board from various components dismounted from the printed circuit board. The method allows the electronic component or the household electrical instrument to be separated into at least two different components as quickly as 10 to 60 seconds.
As a seventh embodiment of the present invention, a method of recovering valuables from an electronic instrument comprises a removal step of removing a chassis with a printed circuit board from the electronic instrument, a chassis crushing step of crushing the chassis and the printed circuit board to pieces of a desired size and separating from the printed circuit board various components which are dismounted and maintained in substantially their original shapes, a vibration screening step of screening the crushed pieces and components in groups of different sizes, a magnetic screening step of separating ferrous materials from the crushed pieces and components received from the vibration screening step, and an eddy current screening step of separating copper and aluminum materials from the crushed pieces and components received from the magnetic screening step. The method allows the components to be readily dismounted from the printed circuit board with their original shapes being substantially maintained and separated into different material groups.
As an eighth embodiment of the present invention, the method of recovering valuables from an electronic instrument of the seventh embodiment of the present invention may further comprise a second crushing step of crushing the components separated from the printed circuit board into pieces of a smaller size, a second magnetic screening step of separating ferrous materials from the crushed pieces and components received from the second crushing step, and a second eddy current screening step of separating copper and aluminum materials from the crushed pieces and components received from the second magnetic screening step. The method allows different materials including metals and resins to be recovered from the components easily and readily.
As a ninth embodiment of the present invention, a method of recovering valuables from an electronic instrument comprises a crushing step of loading the electronic instrument into the crushing apparatus and separating crushed pieces of a cabinet and a printed circuit board from various components which are dismounted from the printed circuit board and maintained in substantially their original shapes, a vibration screening step of screening the crushed pieces and components in groups of different sizes, a magnetic screening step of separating ferrous materials from the crushed pieces and components received from the vibration screening step, and an eddy current screening step of separating copper and aluminum materials from the crushed pieces and components received from the magnetic screening step. The method allows the components to be dismounted from the electronic instrument while being deformed more or less but maintained in substantially their original shapes and sorted in different material groups.
As a tenth embodiment of the present invention, the method of recovering valuables from an electronic instrument of the ninth embodiment may further comprise a second crushing step of crushing the crushed pieces received from the first crushing step into pieces of a smaller size, a second magnetic screening step of separating ferrous materials from the crushed pieces received from the second vibration screening step, and a second eddy current screening step of separating copper and aluminum materials from the crushed pieces received from the second magnetic screening step. The method allows different materials including metals and resins to be recovered from the components easily and readily.